Tag: Aircraft Carrier
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USS Yorktown (CV-10)
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum; Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (September 2008) We wanted to make sure we visited the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV/CVS-10) while we stayed in Charleston. Our first glimpse came as we crossed the Arthur Ravenel Bridge over the Copper River, heading into Mount Pleasant. Even here, high upon the…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 8 (Other Spaces and Places)
I certainly enjoyed my all-too-brief time on the USS John C. Stennis and hopefully I can get another opportunity to do it again someday. However, all things must end so I’ll tie-up a few remaining threads so we can move on to further adventures. Museum A museum on an aircraft carrier? Sure, why not. Behind…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 7 (Always Working)
The USS John C. Stennis had only been out to sea for a couple of days when we visited. Morale remained high with the crew so early into their voyage, with absolute professionalism in whatever jobs they performed. We watched everyday activities as they took place, the many parts that worked together keeping a warship…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 6 (Feeding Time)
Jets roared from the deck of the USS John C. Stennis around the clock, the most visible sign of its power. However, the ship needed thousands of people to keep this one vital function going and they all needed to be fed around the clock. The massive effort to procure, load, store, cook and clean…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 5 (Living Aboard)
The USS John C. Stennis felt like an otherworldly city, with some things strange and others more familiar. For example, the Internet did not exist there, at least not for us, and neither did mobile phones. Scarce satellite bandwidth had to be doled out. Sailors could check email every once in awhile; short-term visitors such…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 4 (The Island)
From the surface of the flight deck, one feature stood literally above all the rest. A superstructure rose several stories into the sky, with a commanding view of everything happening on and around the ship. The Navy called this feature the “Island.” Funny, I kind-of thought of the whole aircraft carrier as an island, completely…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 3 (Air Power)
The USS John C. Stennis and the thousands of sailors that comprise its crew exist to keep military jets in the air far from home. They do this extraordinarily well. We got to watch aircraft from a variety of vantage points, feeling their immense power as much as hearing and seeing them. I’ve never served…
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Aircraft Carrier, Part 2 (All Aboard)
The message I’d been waiting for finally arrived so I scrambled over to the Naval Station Norfolk Tour and Information Center on the public side of Gate 5 (map). I met the rest of the people invited to this excursion and we climbed into a 15-passenger van. Guards waved us through and we drove onto…